japanese films are fucked up

wow! i just got back from my friends' house where we watch Battle Royale. It's this Japanese foreign film that was so profoundly fucked up...funny, but fucked. the premise is, essentially, that every year there is a class chosen from a random high school to be drugged, tagged, and set loose on a deserted island. there can be only one winner. every student is given a rucksack that contains food, water and a weapon. it can be an uzi or it can be the top of a pot. so that's fucked up enough. what makes it even worse it that they all have these collars on that monitor their positions and pulse rate. so, when the head guy announces danger zones and shit, he also calls out, in order, the people who have died since the last announcement. so very messed up.

the movie was actually really funny. funny in that "damn! that was fucked up" way. i think the best moments in the movie are when the kids lose sight of what's really going on and get into fights about stupid things, like crushes, and start killing each other. the absolute best ones are the kids that get sucked into high school politics and start killing kids who wouldn't let them in their cliques or who stole someones' boyfriend. yea, it was so messed up...yet, highly identifiable. it sort of reminded me of buffy. the themes in the show were universal, but the metaphors were true in sunnydale. so, like, in one episode there was this clique of boys and something happened and they turned into wolves and hunted in packs...as we have all seen high school boys do down the hall looking for girls/ trouble/ whatever. most people think that high school was hell, and in sunnydale it was actually over the hellmouth. so that's the stuff that makes it funny in the end. battle royale functioned the same way.

japanese foreign films are fucked up. i love foreign films and have seen a great number of them. i don't think i've ever seen so many messed up movies come from one country. the obvious ones are Ju-On/ the Grudge and Ringu/ the Ring. a friend of mine wanted me to watch The Audition. man! that movie is just fucking sick. i don't know what it is, maybe the whole island has mass cabin fever and is going crazy, i don't know. all i know is that i haven't seen a japanese movie yet that isn't crazy. i've seen fucked up movies, but these are on a whole other level. to be honest, it's kinds of cool that they're so sick. you know, exploring all aspects of human nature and shit, but some of these movies just make me think, "who the fuck thought this shit up?" maybe it's my preconcieved hollywood dictated notion of what a movie should be or...but it's not that. trust me, with movies, i certainly can think outside of the box. these movies are...an experience.

so maybe, if there's someone out there who knows of some not-so-fucked-up japanese movies, you can let me know. there have to be some comedies or something out there. obviously there are action/ samauri/ fighting movies and stuff, but other than those genres, i'd like someone to let me know. i'm just getting into japanese films and, so far, they're not too promising. don't get me wrong, i've liked the movies i've seen. they are just seriously demented.

all of that being said, i highly recommend people rent Battle Royale...so twisted.